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Businesses Unite to Uphold PERS Reforms (6/28/04)Four Oregon business associations have joined together to uphold PERS reforms made during the 2003 legislative session. Public employees unions sued to stop the changes that are expected to cut the $17 billion PERS unfunded liability by at least $9 billion over the next 25 years. On July 30, 2004 the Oregon Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case, and in advance of the hearing, Associated Oregon Industries, the Oregon Business Association, the Oregon Business Council, and the Portland Business Alliance jointly submitted a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief to the court.
Writing in The Oregonian, Ronald Parker (Public Finance Initiative Leader for the Business Plan) noted that 1,300 business, community and elected leaders at the first Leadership Summit "overwhelmingly endorsed reform of the Public Employees Retirement System as the No. 1 priority for the Oregon Business Plan." Read more of Ronald Parker's 'In My Opinion' commentary published in The Oregonian. Download the entire amicus brief (2MB - PDF) submitted to the Oregon Supreme Court on June 21, 2004.
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The
four business associations, which had never participated together in a court
proceeding, emphasize that the outcome of the case will have an
enormous impact on Oregon's economic health and the ability of government to
provide public services in the future.